Melody, Queen Of The Multiverse

Its safe to say the melody is one of THE most important elements in music.

It's usually what we remember
It tells a story
It's what great production are built around

If you've got a great melody - most of the job in a production is to NOT GET IN THE WAY OF HER MAJESTY.

If you listen real close, top notch productions pay extra attention to not be playing riffs, adding sound effects or create competing lead lines while the main melody is happening. Done well it can create an epic call and response between the main character and the other elements in your track.

But how do you get a great melody to start with?

Here's some awesome techniques I've used to stumble upon melodic royalty:

Explore the pentatonic scales - Major - 1,2,3,5,6 Minor 1,b3,4,5,b7

The beautiful part is that pentatonic scales work in all the modes of the major scale. Combining them together is an easy (and fun) way to explore colourful harmony and write cool lead lines.

2. Write modulating chord progressions

Get out of the box! Simply borrowing a chord from the parallel minor scale (like the b6 or b7) can make a huge difference in the emotional depth of your chord progressions. Then you have an excellent foundation to weave a melody through.

3. Play with unique chord colors

Instead of the same old 1-3-5 triad and 1-3-5-7 7th chord play around with inversions and cool extensions. Throw in a b9 on a minor chord or a #11 on a major chord and see where it takes you. The voice leading you create with upper voice extensions/inversions can be a huge help to discover a cool melodic contour.

4. Rhythm

One feature that most great melodies have in common is GREAT RHYTHM. You’d be surprised how focusing on the timing (and space between) of the notes in your melody can make all the difference.

Also keep in mind that notes of your melody that fall on strong beats will feel stronger and more stable compared to landing of weak beats or off beats.

5. Use repetition

Repetition is one of the most powerful tools to create an infectious melodies.

6. Steps vs Skips

Play around with ascending and descending a scale in sequence vs skipping notes. The alternation between scale runs and arpeggio style shapes can create interesting call and response.

7. Chord tones vs non chord tones

Targeting your melody to hit one of the tones the supporting chord will create a sense of stability, harmony and resolve. Compared to targeting notes outside the chord will introduce more color & tension. This is great to play around with to create tension and release.

8. Call and response phrases.

Great melodies borrow a lot of the same features as spoken language. Often times a melody will be expressed in phrases and emphasize different punctuation. A great way to structure your melodies is with a “call and response” or “question and answer”

Questions - Open ended, unstable, incomplete.

Answers - Resolution, stable, complete.

9. Experiment with expressiveness!

Bends, noise, vibrato, slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, effects, frequency shifters, automated reverb, volume changes, etc…

10. Use your voice

Sing out melodic ideas in your head (even if you’re a mediocre vocalist like me). It will help train your ears and keep you focused on the melody. If you’re a musician you know that your fingers can do a lot of the playing instead of intentionally choosing the notes.

There’s no more direction connection between your vocal chords and what you hear in your head :)

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